5 Tips for Corporate Harassment Training

With the recent wave of allegations concerning sexual abuse and misconduct in the workplace, there’s never been a better time than now to implement a corporate harassment training program.

While some companies are taking immediate measures to reduce the risk of an offense, such as eliminating alcohol from upcoming holiday parties, there are other ways you can protect your employees both now and in the future.

The best way to begin is to implement a mandatory training program across all departments that defines sexual harassment and gives workers a clear path to take in the event they suspect it’s happening or fall victim to it themselves.

Today, we’re discussing five tips to help your training go smoothly and make sure everyone understands his or her rights, and how to exercise them.

Ready to learn more? Let’s get started.

1. Require In-Person Attendance

Though the virtual office is becoming more standard these days, to the best extent possible, try to hold your sexual harassment training in-person.

Moreover, require that every employee within driving distance be present. This goes for your intern, as well as your CFO. No one should be exempt.

If you run an international business with employees scattered across multiple satellite offices and in different time zones, consider having each location hold its own training session based on the same documentation.

Not only does requiring attendance stress the importance of the training, but it also allows employees to interact with each other for its duration.

Why is this so important? Research reveals that to evade allegations of sexual misconduct, many male employees will opt to simply avoid female co-workers altogether, which is an ineffective approach. Instead, encourage them to work together to talk about issues — even the uncomfortable ones.

2. Allow Plenty of Time for Discourse

This shouldn’t be a one-sided lecture, where one instructor gets up in at the head of the conference table and monotonously delivers a PowerPoint. Rather, sexual harassment training is at its strongest when it’s more of a conversation.

After you’ve delivered each main point, ask employees if they have any questions, need something clarified, or would like to discuss a point further. The goal is to establish clear communication, cultivate team building, and encourage workers to speak up.

One strategy is to have employees break out into smaller groups to discuss key sections of the training. The stronger the dialogue is around the issue, the less likely it is that an employee will feel ashamed to come forward.

3. Make Sexual Harassment Training Continuous

Your office’s sexual harassment training shouldn’t be a one-day or even a one-week event. Rather, strive to hold periodic refresher sessions to make sure everyone is still on the same page. This way, the knowledge will stay at the forefront of your employees’ minds.

In the same vein, it’s wise to keep a copy of all training material at a centrally accessible location, such as your front desk or a company library. If you weren’t able to get everyone in the same room, email copies of all slides and handouts to every virtual employee to ensure no one can use the excuse of “I didn’t see the material.”

4. Keep It Professional and Current

Sure, you can pop in a VHS tape on sexual harassment training circa 1994. The only issue? The overly dramatic reenactments are so cheesy they can easily be seen as humorous, and that’s definitely not the point you want to make.

Rather, look for material that’s current and will resonate with everyone from your near-retirees to your Millennial techies. You may want to consider speaking to a team of sexual harassment attorneys to help you create your material. These professionals will be able to outline the very real, long-term legal consequences employees could face if they cross the line.

Telling employees they could face serious jail time for their misconduct will hit home much harder than making them watch a cheaply shot watercooler scene on an outdated training video.

If you want to send the message that sexual harassment is both wrong and carries detrimental consequences, don’t water it down with cheap content that brings more snickers than serious contemplation.

5. Make it about Behavior

Studies show that people generally don’t love being slapped with a rigid set of rules. While there are understandably plenty of guidelines that you’ll require your employees to follow, it works better to make the focus of the sexual harassment training more about behavior than a top-10 list of “no-nos.”

This doesn’t in any way discount the fact that there will be (and should be) plenty of understanding around what constitutes acceptable actions.

Yet, in addition to telling workers what not to do, be sure to give them plenty of examples of positive behavior that they should emulate. This helps place the guidelines in a real-life context, so workers don’t have to second-guess what to do or say if they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation.

An Informative Training Session That Delivers

From the newsroom to Hollywood, it seems that almost every day, a new case of sexual harassment is brought to light. Whether you’ve had policies against sexual harassment in place for years or are looking to create some new regulations of your own, there couldn’t be a more apt time to begin.